The Lusiads

by Luís de Camões, Francisco de Macedo, Luís Vaz de Camões, et al.

Book Overview

The first European artist to cross the equator, Camoes's narrative reflects the novelty and fascination of that original encounter with Africa, India and the Far East. The poem's twin symbols are the Cross and the Astrolabe, and its celebration of a turning point in mankind's knowledge of the world unites the old map of the heavens with the newly discovered terrain on earth. Yet it speaks powerfully, too, of the precariousness of power, and of the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140440267
• ISBN13: 9780140440263
• Release Date: April 1975
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.8"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Great translation!

This translation of the Lusiads is easily readable and enjoyable. The translator has successfully conveyed the meaning from the Portuguese while preserving many aspects of the ottava rima form. The story itself is very interesting and easy to follow. The notes provide explanations of the numerous allusions to Classical literature, though more references exist. That's not to say one can't enjoy the epic without Classical training. In all, the epic is an invaluable glimpse into the Portuguese myth-making going on during the Age of Discovery. Vasco da Gama's voyage to India around Africa becomes a game among the gods, a religious quest, and reclamation of the right Portugal had by way of its legendary founder, Lusus, son of Bacchus, to rule the East Indies. Much early Portuguese history also finds its way into the epic.

Dynamic epic that speaks to modern-day readers

First the nuts and bolts. The Lusiads (Os Lusiadas) was published in Portuguese in 1572. 'The Lusiads' would be more understandably translated 'The Portuguese'. Lusiads means inhabitants of the Roman region called Lusitania - after the legendary founder Lusus who was a companion of the Roman god Bacchus. It is an epic (long poem where a hero or heroes in a wide-ranging adventure embody representative national characteristics). It would be similar to the Odyssey, El Cid, or Divine Comedy. The first English translation was in 1655, and multiple translations have ensued. Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton even did a Victorian age translation. This translation is by Landeg White and is my favorite translation. The story is of the voyage of Vasco da Gama from Portugal to India. This was the beginning of a world-wide Portuguese trade empire and was a seminal world event in mixing Western and Eastern Cultures. The author was a low-grade officer/noble who lost an eye battling the Moors, and spent most of his life in the East as a bureaucrat and soldier for the Portuguese empire. His first-hand knowledge of the countries described in the epic along with his experiences as a soldier, prisoner, ship-wreck survivor etc. gave him unmatchable insight into his subject. In the original Portuguese, the book is written in rhyming, eight line paragraphs called 'ottava rima'. Since Portuguese is a Romance language with a few common endings for most words, it is very easy to rhyme. The same is not true of English. Rather than force this translation to rhyme and using odd word orders and odd words to fit the rhyme scheme, White has used a non-rhyming format that only has the last couplet of the eight lines rhyming. This is the perfect compromise and makes reading the English translation fairly close to reading in the original language. Now for the specifics. Multiple famous literary figures have praised this book for hundreds of years. Some have even said it is worth learning Portuguese just to read Camoes in the original. The reasons for this are several. First, Camoes tells a good story. This is not a sterile, boring recitation. Second, the described events are adventurous and illuminate history, cultures and human nature. But most importantly, this book allows the personality of the author to shine through. The best parts, in my opinion, are where the author comments on the happenings, or adds his advice to the Portuguese people and rulers. The last few stanzas of the book show you the feelings of the author when he exclaims, "No more, Muse, no more, my lyre Is out of tune and my throat hoarse, Not from singing but from wasting song On a deaf and coarsened people. Those rewards which encourage genius My country ignores, being given over To avarice and philistinism, Heartlessness and degrading pessimism. I do not know by what twist of fate It has lost that pride, that zest for life, Which lifts the spirits unfailingly And welcomes

A question of timing

Had Camoens been "Englishened" shortly after his own lifetime, no doubt some English translator could have grasped the proper tone, meter and spirit for his work to be presented in English grab. However, since he died in 1580, just when Spain absorbed Portugal into the Iberian Union, his poem in praise of the Portuguese exploits in India was not to be Englishened when the English where busy trying to undone what he had praised. Therefore he lost his chance with the English language. As it is, all English translation of Camoens have been at best exercises in creative anachronism (such as Richard Francis Burton's Victorian one) or simply inadequate (such as the Penguin trans., which is _in prose_!). Also, there is the problem that a translation of the high degree required is best achieved between cognate languages (such as the German trans. of Shakespeare, or the Portuguese trans. of the D.Quixote). Be as it is,Camoens didn't fail to attract the attention even of Marx & Engels, who quote the opening section of the Lusiads (in Portuguese) in the _German Ideology_. Therefore I advise reading _any_ English trans., but only to get a foretaste before learning Portuguese and reading the original.Finally, for those who think the poem's "hero" Vasco da Gama to be unintersting: the hero of the poem is the Portuguese people in general, therefore the name of the poem - the _Lusiads_ (from Lusitania, i.e. Portugal) and not the "Gamaeid".

Camoes: The Portuguese Shakespeare

At some point in life we realize why "The Classics" ARE classic. At some point the great literature and words reach out and touch us to the very core of our being, that special spark that is real you. The Lusiads has done that to me.Being written in a minor tongue and focusing on a minor nation's history, this rhyming wall of words has not had much circulation out side of the lusophonic orbit, which is a shame. This work deserves its proper place behind the Iliad, The Odyssey, the Aeneid, and the Divine Comedy. This English translation enables anglophonics to understand Camoes, the Portuguese Shakespeare.Unlike the Aeneid, which focuses on one mans journey from Troy to Rome, this story focuses on the Portuguese in the plural as a collective people. It celebrates their special history, using Vasco Da Gama's 1497 voyage to India as the focus of drama.The only drawback to the book is that you need to read a survey of Portuguese history and geography to savor this book. I lived in Portugal for two years, therefor I understood the allusions and the story. It is not, however, as bad as the Divine Comedy where almost every paragraph is foot-noted, but a perusal of the encyclopedia would help before, during, and after the reading.Lastly, I have read the Lusiads in Portuguese. Since it is written in poetic form with cantos, and in a second tongue, it was grueling work. I can only compare it to reading Milton or Pope in another language. Poetry by nature is dense writing, and if the reader is also dense, trouble occurs. Therefore, I endorse this English translation to mono- and polyglots alike.

Camoes, o poeta (the poet)

This here, is what perhaps can be considered the foundry of portuguese literature. Writen by one of the worlds greatest poets, Camoes, retells in verse the story of "Os Descobrimentos." Outstandingly well written, and should bring tears to any of portuguese origins.